Keir Starmer’s planned VAT raid on private schools is likely to breach human rights law because it singles out private education for the levy, a senior lawyer has said. The Telegraph has the story.
The Labour leader risks falling foul of European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) law over his party’s flagship policy, one of Britain’s top constitutional and human rights lawyers has warned.
Lord Pannick, who has taken on some of the U.K.’s most high-profile court cases, backed legal advice warning that making private schools subject to VAT was likely to breach ECHR law.
He told the Telegraph: “It would be strongly arguable that for a new government to impose VAT on independent schools would breach the right to education.
“That is because all other educational services will remain exempt from VAT and the charging of VAT on independent schools alone is designed to impede private education, and will have that effect.”
The KC and crossbench peer said that the Labour policy risked breaching two articles in the ECHR which protect the right to education.
He referred to legal advice written in response to Labour policies as far back as the early 1980s, when the country’s most senior lawyers warned that plans to end tax exemptions for private schools or abolish the institutions altogether would likely breach international human rights law to which Britain is signed up.
Seems the Left might be getting entangled in its own anti-democratic ‘human rights’ Blob.
Worth reading in full.
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Along with net zero. Surely destroying a country against the will of the people is against the constitution?
The red arrow fiend strikes again.
So you think it’s ok to destroy our country. It’s a pity red arrows aren’t tagged with the posters name.
Are you brave enough to tell us who your are?
It’s perfectly possible to bypass the ECHR without leaving it. The Tories just choose not to do so.
Also, all the judiciary will be Labour supporters anyway so they will just invent some reason not to block it.
Anyone would think that all these laws and regulation are written by one set of lawyers, with enough ambiguity and loopholes to keep another group of lawyers making highly paid arguments to get round them.
There’s a major flaw in Labour’s stupid and vindictive attack on children: where are these mythical teachers coming from? Presumably the same place where you can pick up Unicorns. All this really comes down to is the Lefties hatred of rich people unless they happen to be rich themselves which they invariably are.
Labour really have no changed at all. Still hate everyone who is not them and are particularly vindictive if you female or Jewish. Any woman who votes Labour should be ashamed of themselves.
Pannick’s argument is ridiculous.
First, charging VAT on private school fees wouldn’t deprive anyone of education, even if it resulted in the complete end of private education. Because there are always State schools. Maybe they aren’t as good – but a court case to that effect would ask the courts to agree that private education was superior to State education.
Secondly, the end of a favoured exemption is not the same as discrimination against. It is the end of discrimination in favour.
Third, is Pannick really saying that the Human Rights Act prevents the extension of the scope of VAT? You might as well argue, for example, that charging VAT on restaurant meals is a breach of the right to food because VAT is not charged on food bought from other places.
If people want to continue the VAT exemption for private education, there are good arguments for that. This is not one of them.